W. H. Auden's 'Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus'

It’s Easier to Turn Your Head

(analysis of three messages from Musee des Beaux Arts) Everybody goes through hard times, it’s inescapable. Although we are surrounded by people who claim they care for us, it seems when we need support the most, their heads are turned. It’s easier to pretend you don’t notice problems than to confront them and try to help. These thoughts crossed W. H. Auden’s mind when he first saw Pieter Brueghel 's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.” In the painting it depicts a beautiful landscape on the seashore. Everybody is carrying about their business and chores; however, in the lower left hand corner there is a man 's legs coming out of the water. These are the legs of Icarus, who has recently fallen from the sky. William Carlos Williams writes in his poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, “The edge of the sea concerned with itself.” W. H. Auden sees this painting writes down his thoughts. This becomes the poem of Musee des Beaux Arts, and Auden makes three points:

Secondly, the message of suffering is present in Musee des Beaux Arts. Icarus is clearly struggling in the water and nobody will take the time to help him. Auden even straight up says it, “About suffering, they were never wrong, The Old Masters; (1-2). Suffering happens to everyone, it is inevitable, but how we are others react to it is the important part. Luke Tucker, an attendant at Baylor University and writer for Theodysseyonline.com publishes, “Everyone knows suffering, that state of acute pain which dominates our attention and reigns over our motivation, but W.H. Auden, in his poem “Musée des Beaux Arts,” observes how poorly many of us understand the human position of suffering, how far too often someone else 's suffering receives as relief little more than a back that 's leisurely turned away or a blind eye.” It is necessary for us to evaluate and try to console others sufferings since we all go through them. This is something that the people the painting choose not to